If I had to recommend one broad thing to every student studying abroad, it would be to go to a hostel for a weekend. I met a good friend from Canada in Berlin for the weekend and had my first true hostel experience. In the past I’ve stayed in single rooms and didn’t really interact with my fellow travelers, but I learned this weekend that I’d been doing it all wrong.

Hostels have the amazing guarantee that the people you are rooming with are young, broke travelers. With that common ground, it’s as easy to make friends as the first two weeks of freshman year in college. “So where are you from?” is an easy phrase to open a conversation, and by the end of the night everyone around the table seems like an old friend. 

My Canadian friend, Sophie, had already made friends with a couple of guys from Aussie (pronounced “Ozzy” apparently) by the time I arrived late on Thursday. After hanging out at the rooftop terrace, we made plans to meet in the morning and see the city together. 

At breakfast, one of the Australians suggested going on a bike tour. Biking has always been boring to me, but I didn’t want to be the annoying person who always says “no.” So, I bit down my complaints and jumped out of my comfort zone and onto a “Fat Tires” bike tour.

It turned out to be the best choice I’ve ever made. For a cheap 22 euros, we were taken on a guided five hour bike tour of the city. I quickly gained a confidence on a bike that I’ve never had before, and we got to see much more of the city than we would have on our feet. Our tour guide was a young Guy named Niall, and he knew everything about Berlin’s history from Prussia, Nazi era, Cold War, even modern happenings. We even got to see the place where Hitler died — the city doesn’t mark  it because they don’t want to run the risk of it becoming a Neo-Nazi shrine, so most tourists walk right past the now parking lot.  I learned more about Berlin than I could have imagined, and had a fun day out doing it. 

I wouldn’t have had the perfect weekend in Berlin if I’d stayed at a normal hotel. The benefits of hostels go far beyond their cheap price. Each night I met new people from different places with different stories. And in these large groups of people I felt comfortable to go out and explore Berlin’s nightlife.

In my life, Berlin has always been one city. I was born just after the wall fell, only hearing stories of soviet days but having no tangible memories of the Cold War. With similar memories, he youth of Berlin have taken the remnants of a divided city and built a city full of vibrant art and culture. By day young Berliners work  in an historic city, but by night they truly live.

I doubt nightlife like Berlin exists anywhere else in the world. Every street has dance clubs with nonsensical minimalist names such as SODA, What?!, and raw. Abandoned warehouses have been resuscitated with laser lights, smog machines, and painstakingly crafted electronic music. Most clubs have multiple rooms, each with a different decor and mood. Clubs are rarely marked, relying on word of mouth instead. At one point I walked past an open manhole and heard music and saw pulsing lights coming from below. For a city with a difficult past and a still emerging identity, Berlin has a name for knowing how to celebrate long into the night.

The Mayor of Berlin has been famously quoted describing his city as “poor but sexy.” Maybe that’s why similarly described millennials flock to the city that’s normally a bit off the beaten path of the “grand tour” through Europe. It’s easy to walk through the streets of Berlin and see important relics of five different eras next to a wall of graffiti that has become fiercely protected as the emerging genre “street art.” Unlike most big cities I’ve been to, admirable fashion isn’t expensive and store bought, it’s creative, quirky, and often altered by hand. 

For a weekend trip, Berlin tantalized me. I walked to the train station feeling emotional and not wanting to leave. I’m looking forward to several more weeks of traveling, but I will have a hard time finding a more perfect city. Tomorrow, we start the “study tour” part of our class, and our first stop is in Strasberg, France!